The invention relates to delivery of weather product information to the cockpit of an aircraft and in particular to providing weather data on an aircraft cockpit display.
Commercial aircraft operating in United States air space have on-board weather radar systems. Existing on-board weather radar systems provide data on weather local to the aircraft, for example, weather ahead of the aircraft within the range of the weather radar unit. The weather information is displayed on a cockpit weather display. However, the weather data collected by an aircraft is available only to the particular aircraft experiencing the weather, the data is not transferable to the ground or to other aircraft. Thus, today, weather information displayed on on-board cockpit displays is limited to the weather returns supplied by the on-board weather radar.
Visual depictions and bounding of significant hazardous weather areas outside the range of an on-board weather radar system on a cockpit display would be a significant operational tool for the aircraft crew.